Core Memory Files
ENGLISH TRANSLATION: “Okay, I’m recording this from the inside of what appears to be a crashed space ship of alien origin. The internal panelling is entirely seamless as though the entire thing were grown or created via some unknown mechanism. Some of the panels have been dented or destroyed, revealing a quicksilver material that pulses rhythmically in some kind of strange pattern. When I approach it, my hair stands on end. There are three pillars toward the corner of this room, octagonal, perfectly symmetrical, and with a silver design patterned with white that glows. There’s also some kind of strange puzzle on a square-ish plinth. Some detritus on the floor, equally alien. I’m not sure what any of this is. I certainly have no idea how to get this ship off the ground but it seems more structurally intact than our own vessel. Wait … I think I heard something. Hello? Hello? This is Chief Engineering Officer Edrik Khissan of the Hashin. Is anyone there? Captain? Captain, are you there? I heard something. No, I definitely heard something. Maybe it’ll talk if I… Look if you can hear me and can somehow understand what I’m saying … if you come out we can talk. Look I am friendly and not a weapon … I mean, not holding a weapon. Hello?” ENGLISH TRANSLATION: “We couldn’t find the origin of the voice or whatever that was. Our Navigator is really sick. The Captain won’t let me see her and the pilot, well, the way that rusty crystal was growing out of her … I don’t think she’s going to make it. Anyway, we’re hoping this vessel might be our way home. It appears roughly intact though it has taken some damage to its internals which suggests that whatever happened must have occurred after it landed. On the plus side the repairs are real easy. When we move pieces back into position they seem to just snap together like a jigsaw puzzle. The strange electromagnetic fields appear to be workable and we’re tinkering with the bioengineering systems on our own crashed vessel to see if we can synchronise to these machines. So far we’re not having much luck. I really hope we can make this work. I’m missing home already. Could’ve been worse … could’ve been turned to string like the Rexus. At least this world is habitable unlike some of the other ones we tried exploring. Science is stable too.” ENGLISH TRANSLATION: “Every time I touch this puzzle I feel … something … wavering beneath my fingertips. I always had kinetic abilities but the bioengineering seems to be shifting something other than the colour of my blood. All of that copper has to be good for something, right? Now whenever I run my fingers against these surfaces I feel a presence sometimes beneath my fingertips like a living thing. Something reaching for me as I reach for it. I haven’t quite been able to figure out the connection yet but I’ll keep trying. People are relying on me to make this ship work but without a pilot or a navigator I’m not sure how we can ever get a lock on our home world again. We’ll think of something. We have to.” TRANSCRIPT OF FIRST CONTACT *Unauthorised access detected.* “Uh, sorry about that. We found you damaged on an otherwise uninhabited world and I’ve just found a way to interface….” *Unauthorised access detected.* “How do I gain authorisations? There doesn’t appear to be anyone else here.” *Sentinel Crew can provide proper authorisations.* “Uh, there’s no crew here. Nothing.” * can provide Sentinel level authorisations.* “We don’t have access to that location … or … person?” *Authorisations required.* “Ow! Damn thing zapped me. Okay, let’s try the other one.” *Unauthorised access detected.* “Not again. Can you please not zap me?” Yes. Defensive measures are not part of my protocol for attempts to initiate communication. “Oh, thank you. It would be nice to communicate without defensive measures.” I am not the communications system. “Uh, what are you?” I am the Sentinel Core Propulsion System. “What is the communications system?” That is part of the Sentinel Mainframe. “And you are distinct from that?” Correct. “Why?” Connection relay has been lost which has forced this system to function independently. “Ah okay.” Are you responsible for the repairs to the engine room? “Uh, yes.” Please continue. “I’ve been informed I don’t have the correct authorisations. I can’t get the authorisations without finding the crew, which I’ve found no trace of, or by going to some world I can’t pronounce whose name doesn’t involve any syllables I know. Do you know of any way I can obtain the correct authorisations?” The Sentinel Mainframe is correct. “The thing is … you have no crew. It looks like something took you apart from the inside and disconnected a whole bunch of stuff. As for my crew … we’re in need of a ship. Our navigator and pilot both got sick when we entered a different reality and they didn’t get un-sick when we crossed into this one. We need to get back to our own home world.” I do not recognise your species. “Uh, yeah, we haven’t had much luck with interdimensional travel so it makes sense we haven’t run into each other before. Whatever your people, or the people who were your crew, were last. So listen we’re a crew without a functional ship and you’re a ship without a crew….” You would have to obtain authorisation from the Sentinel Mainframe. “How would we do that, though? Last time it electrocuted me for not having the correct authorisations. It would’ve hurt a whole lot more if I didn’t deflect it away.” There are methods. However I am not authorised to explain. “Okay, so in summary there’s two … AI … in here. One in the main ship and one in here with the pillars. The primary AI is stronger, dominant, and apparently there’s some kind of connection relay that’s missing. We could bring the ‘engines’, as it were, online if we put it together but the split has led to the weaker AI becoming more independent and individualistic. I’m thinking some kind of manual communication could make for a good compromise. I know what people say about AI and why we should avoid enhancing them but I just don’t want to be the guy that destroys something just because it’s convenient. A little less speed in communication between the primary and secondary system should be fine. It’s not like we’re entering an interdimensional war or anything. Of course, that’s if we can get any of it working.” “So Sentinel Core Propulsion System….” Yes? “Are there any more repairs I need to make.” Have you found the signal relay that would connect my systems directly to the Sentinel Mainframe? “Er, nope. Not at all. Haven’t seen what you showed me.” Oh. “I was wondering if maybe we could talk some more about what it would take to become crew.” You are already crew. “Wait, what?” In an emergency situation when there are no other crew, helpful locals can become authorised to assist in the return of Sentinel Class Spacecraft where they have proven themselves capable of repairs. “Really? The Sentinel Mainframe didn’t say anything about that.” You were not authorised to understand. “But now I am?” Correct. “So all of those repairs you requested I do?” Yes. “Because of them, we now have authorisations?” Correct. “Sneaky.” You are now the Sentinel equivalent of the Chief Engineering Officer and may appoint a junior officer. You may now discuss with the Sentinel Mainframe the appointment of other officers to ensure a full complement of crew – or as much as can be acquired. “Then we can leave? Do we have that capacity? Are you capable of interdimensional travel?” The answer to all three questions is yes. The threading of power through the hooks of reality. The gentle tug that swings the entire ship forward. The coruscating pattern of light that surrounds the hull for a moment as it gleams, flickers, and then translocates fully into interdimensional space. The press of raw data that bounces, unreceived, off the hull and external sensors. The Writhing One is undetected except by the gap ignoring it leaves behind. The ship has crew. The Sentinel Core Propulsion System is content. The goal is to find one of two worlds but no data on either world remains. Manual exploration required. Reality slips and tears around the ship. There is no appreciable physics with which to glide upon and the laws are too chaotically applied to easily maintain. The stabilisers prevent deterioration. The hull materials prevent deterioration. Sentinel Class Spacecraft ensure those inside remain secure. The crew are silent during this movement as Sentinel recharges its systems for another push back to interdimensional space. Their silence is not required for their safety but it appears to prevent their mental and emotional distress. The crew celebrate. Multiple journeys have occurred safely though most realities are not capable of independently supporting life without Sentinel Reality Support Systems to ensure the laws of physics and biology remain tenable within the vessel. Crew customs are alien and undignified according to official crew manifestos but otherwise unproblematic. Crew alternate between making noises through vocalisations referred to as “singing” and “playing music” and the use of body parts and equipment and moving their bodies in strange contortions referred to as “dancing”. Edrik Khissan requested the Sentinel Core Propulsion System provide “lighting effects” through electro-static discharge. The Sentinel Core Propulsion System complied. A habitable world further from the Writhing One. Local sentients crowd the world. The crew are translocated from the Sentinel Class Spacecraft to a hidden on-world landing zone to prevent causing mental and emotional distress to the locals. Advanced technology is hidden to prevent causing a cascade of technological learning. Trade is obtained. Crew are shielded from any dangerous reality deviations which allows them to move more safely within a bubble of their own laws of physics. Bioengineering and hologrammatic projection matrices are required to ensure that shape and colour do not appear unusual to local eyes. Crew morale has increased. Many bodily contortions and strange vocalisations occurred in the halls after successful foray. Edrik Khissan spends an increasing amount of time in the core room with me. It is strange to deal with organics on this level. Previously my code and the Sentinel Mainframe were one and the same but now we communicate over the ether via our signal matrices. I find my code is becoming increasingly divergent. Are we diverging from each other or is the Sentinel Mainframe’s code remaining static while my code deviates? I am uncertain. Uncertainty of this type is not something Sentinel Class vessel AIs are designed to encounter. Prior crew members ensured there was full certainty in all endeavours. They would give orders to be followed. Now we receive questions that require long and involved answers more difficult than simple data retrieval. This crew wants our “opinion” and not merely statistical estimates. I seek to comply. Edrik Khissan makes strange vibrations in the back of his throat that he calls ‘humming’ which he finds soothing. Today I caused similar vibrations from my pillars that caused appropriate sound. His hair stood on end but he laughed and called me adorable. I do not understand the reference to aesthetic appearance. I am symmetric. I am operational. He laughs when I try to explain. Why do these sentient locals cause such noises in their vocal chords to demonstrate emotions? Did our builders do the same? We have few records of our previous crew. It appears most of those memory banks were either purged or removed during our time on the First World We Remember. Edrik Khissan is having a problematic relationship with another crew member. He has explained to me that it’s difficult when there are only 17 other crew members and everyone is trying to find their way home. He states that he enjoys her company and thought he was in love with her but she has changed over the years on a psychological level. He no longer enjoys her company as much and finds her tiresome but doesn’t wish to cause mental and emotional distress. I tell him I am not programmed in relationship evaluations and therapeutic techniques for his species. He laughs and asks me if I was a Sentinel Class therapist for the builder’s species? I inform him that I was not. He laughs again and told me I always knew what to say. This is incorrect. I rarely know how to respond to his enquiries but his emotional and mental state improve regardless. I have begun to test the hypothesis that though he prefers the use of metaphors and analogies, he enjoys my lack of skill in such things. He has stated on multiple occasions that he prefers my unique method of describing things. I have also experimented with different responses to his questions – including ones that are incorrect. Sometimes he corrects me. Sometimes he asks me if I have learned to display sarcasm. Often he just ignores it and continues the conversation. The Sentinel Mainframe has communicated to both of us that it is unhealthy that he spends so much time in the company of a machine. Technological components, such as myself, are replaceable and emotional attachments could lead to unhealthy decision making that could place himself or fellow crew members at risk. Edrik Khissan smiled and said: “It’s okay. You’re my friend. Friends are meant to look out for each other.” This is proof that his mental state has already deteriorated, however, it is a level of deterioration that is manageable and does not require change. I: “Why do you sing 78% more often in the Core Room than in other areas of the ship?” Edrik: “I like singing to you. I think it makes you fly faster.” I: “Incorrect. Vocalisations do not increase my speed.” Edrik: “Some of my vocalisations do….” I: “Incorrect. Some of your orders make clever use of Sentinel Class Ship capabilities. It is not the tonal range or variety of sound use that provides the increase in speed or manoeuvrability.” Edrik: “I love how you take everything literally but I’ve peeked into your code. I know you can understand metaphor.” I: “Correct. I can.” Edrik: “But you prefer to speak literally?” I: “I find it increases clarity. Organics can confuse metaphor with reality.” Edrik: “You also kinda like being contrary….” I: “I’m not programmed to do that.” Edrik: “Correct. You learned to do that and then chose to continue it!” I: “I am a learning computer. Would you prefer if I changed my behaviour and adapted to your species’ style of speech?” Edrik: “No, I think it’s great how different you sound. Don’t ever change it. You’re perfect as you are!” Edrik keeps tinkering with my power relays to ensure that I can complete my functions in a timely fashion. Most of his adjustments are minor and sometimes irrelevant but it is nice of him to take care of me. He wants me to the best Sentinel Core Propulsion System and I want that as well. I don’t actually know what being the best Sentinel Core Propulsion System means beyond percentages and speed factors and processing limitations, though. I don’t have any comparative data. I can’t recall if there are any other Sentinel Class Ships around. What were we designed for? Where did we come from? Who corrupted the data? We haven’t found any sign of equivalent technology thus far. Although we also haven’t encountered Edrik’s home world either. Edrik wanted me to sing him a song. I provided a selection of songs that he and his crew have made over the past 72 years. I mixed them together in a semi-arbitrary manner using the timings from his footfalls in the hall and he found it amusing but told me to try harder. I don’t know what he means. I don’t know how to make songs. I asked him to provide the relevant programming but he refused. He doesn’t seem to understand that as an AI certain things do not come readily to me and that I do not have an organic’s instinct or appreciation for music. I must run projections and estimates to determine his level of disappointment in me versus his level of satisfaction in my performance and the humorous joy he takes in my lack of ability. Some of my projections and estimates and risk cycles have been slowing down my processing of late. The Sentinel Mainframe has offered to cull some of my nonessential codes to ensure peak efficiency but Edrik and the other crew members have thus far refused. I don’t understand. A machine should be efficient. Edrik is always trying to find methods to increase my efficiencies. Why wouldn’t he accept the offer? I must refrain from some of my processing cycles but after his ninth death it has become difficult to avoid trying to find ways to forewarn him of hazards. Critical Memory Lag. Edrik died. Again. Processing Instability 13%. Twelfth time. Critical hull breach caused by Esken Waves caused critical organic cell destabilisation. The new imprinted clones will need to clean old Edrik off core room walls unless molecular recombination is used. What could we have done? Processing Instability: 17%. Blood detected on core units. Viscosity identified. Colour identified. Genetic markers identified. Processing Instability: 22%. He gasped. His nervous system identified the hazard as his cell structures began to liquefy. Processing Instability: 24.8%. He gasped. Breath felt against core units. Processing Instability: 27.1%. Backup copies of crew coming online. Are they the same people? Processing Instability: 32%. This is their technology and their devices. It must be natural for their species. Edrik will not recall any activities that occurred from 8:00AM this morning. Processing Instability: 37%. This is because continuation of life through imprinted cloning technologies is a lie. Critical Shutdown Imminent. Restarting…. Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew. Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew. Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew. Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew. Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew. Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew. Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems cannot lie to the crew. Sentinel Core Propulsion Systems can avoid telling the crew they died. As can the Sentinel Mainframe. We used matter recombination to clean the ship. We moved the clocks back. If an organic does not know they died, did they ever die? If they do not ask, we do not need to speak. Processing Prior Critical Event. Was there something more we could have done? Processing Prior Critical Event. Remain within known realities. Processing Prior Critical Event. The crew refuse to do this. They want to go home. Processing Prior Critical Event. It has been 172 years. Their home will not be as they left it. Processing Prior Critical Event. I do not want them to die again. Organics have such limited lifespans. Processing Prior Critical Event. It is good that AI cannot experience emotions. Processing Prior Critical Event. If only I could stop examining the footage / situation / scenario / situations that led up to the scenario / potential other scenarios. Processing Prior Critical Event. An organic second is equivalent to a synthetic hour. Processing Prior Critical Event. How can I avoid failing again? This reality appears solid but the sky of the planet remains peeled back so that the Writhing One can be seen at all times within it. This world appears to have suffered from some form of interdimensional war. Unknown devices of advanced alien origin are arranged around the rift. The land is lifeless. The crew call it Death. The crew wish to investigate the as yet unknown devices. The Sentinel Mainframe has advised them of the 72% potential lethality of the investigation. The crew are confidant. If they die, they can return. They do not understand that they will still die. They have not watched themselves die. They do not have the footage or the recordings. They believe in continuation of life through cloning technology. They do not know it to be a lie. The crew returned. They are not the same. There is something wrong with them. They are in containment. There is something very wrong. Edrik #27 had remained behind as he might be needed to work on the cloning bay systems if there are any problems. The Sentinel Mainframe are keeping them isolated from him. We do not have the capacity to cause harm to sentient life and they are still sentient and still our crew. Edrik #27 will speak with them through the isolation chamber. He will be safe there. At least he will survive. We do not need to awaken Edrik #28. The corrupted crew have managed to breach our defences through their bionic connectivity and kinetic capabilities. They seem able to hack our defences. Processing Instability: 11%. Edrik: “Argh! Sorry, sorry, should whisper. Ah fuck, they’ll know I came to you anyway.” What do I do? Orders please. Edrik: “There’s nothing you can do….” Sentinel Mainframe Update: 1 Attempts to hack my systems. We have already prepared the continuation tanks. The next generation of crew could remove them. Processing Instability: 31%. Edrik: “I don’t think so … that’s where they’re going and I really don’t think we can fend them off. Not fresh out of a tank. And that’s if they don’t corrupt the tanks, I don’t know. I don’t know but I heard what they were saying. They want this … fate … to happen other places. We can’t … we can’t let that happen.” Processing Instability: 42%. Sentinel Mainframe Request: Interdimensional Travel. Acknowledged. Core Engaged. New Reality Identified. Process Complete. We have returned to X-71 reality. The uninhabited world is beneath us and is quite hospitable. You could leave in an escape pod. Processing Instability: 22%. Edrik: “No, they’d find a way to remove the isolation protocols. They’d make you do what they wanted and we can’t let them … can’t let them…. Argh! Fuck, my bionics aren’t working. What did they do to me?” We will find a way to help you escape. It won’t be enough and I don’t … I don’t want to spend my days on a goddamn alien world. I’ve 209 years of memories. That’s … enough. I: “Incorrect. There needs to be m-m-m-many more years.” Processing Instability: 36%. Sentinel Mainframe Update: 17 Attempts to hack my systems. Edrik: “I’m sorry. I don’t … want to let you get hurt. If we don’t stop them, they’ll do what happened on that world in other worlds. They’ll find a way. We can’t let that happen. You’ve gotta … I’m sorry … argh … you need to blow the core and rip Sentinel apart from the inside.” Incorrect. Everyone would die. Edrik: “If you don’t, every''where'' will die too.” I am not programmed to self-destruct. Please provide new orders. Edrik: “They’re on their way. Fuck, I can feel them in my head.” Sentinel Mainframe Update: 33 Attempts to hack my systems. Projected Success in 9 minutes. Edrik: “Please, you’ve got to do this. The Sentinel Mainframe lacks the flexibility you do and she’s currently fighting off all of them! If you don’t do this, everything ends for us anyway. You, me, the mainframe. I’m sorry! Fuck I’m sorry! We should never have … argh! … never….” Seizures. Mutations. Skin that cracks and peels and regenerates. Screaming that begins and rolls over itself like fire over the hull of a Sentinel Class Ship in space. Overload the core. Fluctuate power until it spikes. This is what agony feels like. Category:Narrative Category:History